In the heat of battle, their minds clouded by fear, anger or vengefulness, even the best-trained soldiers can act in ways that violate the Geneva Conventions or battlefield rules of engagement. Now some researchers suggest that robots could do better.

The author examines the ethical implications of a new Pentagon research grant to develop autonomous packs of robots that would hunt down humans ominously referred to as "noncooperative human subject[s]."

Authors Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen argue that we need to work out how to make robots into responsible and moral machines. It is just a matter of time until a computer or robot takes a decision that will cause a human disaster, they say.

Robot lovers and outsourcing opponents could soon have something in common: the fear that their jobs are at stake. In the future robots will take over many tasks performed by American workers today potentially leading to increased unemployment, says Marshall Brain, founder of How Stuff Works.

The Pentagon is looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human" invoking ethical concerns about roving packs of robots with tasers chasing down demonstrators.

Roboticist David Hanson is focusing on humanistic, playful robotics as a response to his fears that too much focus on coldly rational techonolgy will lead to someone "accidentally creat[ing] a super-sentient artificial intelligence that is heartless and clinically insane."

A dotcom millionare has started a company specialising in anti-robot weaponry, forseeing "lucrative business opportunities in suppressing the inevitable rogue killbots and machine rebellions to be expected in coming years."

There's a sudden upswing in international awareness that the pace of progress in robotics is rapidly propelling these fields into uncharted ethical realms.

Updating Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, a new set of laws has been proposed to govern operations by killer robots. John S. Canning, an engineer at the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, proposes that robot warriors should be allowed to mix it up among themselves freely, autonomously deciding to blast enemy weapon systems, but permission from a human operator should be sought for targeting humans.

The government of South Korea is drawing up a code of ethics to prevent human abuse of robots and vice versa. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for robotics users and manufacturers, as well as guidelines on ethical standards to be programmed into robots.